WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced at a press conference in New York on Thursday that he ruled out running as a third party candidate in the 2016 US election.
"I have signed a pledge," Trump told the audience in the lobby of Trump Towers, which his own company had built. "I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the principles for which it stands.
Trump had previously refused to rule out running as an independent in the first Republican presidential debate on Fox News on August 7.
However, on Thursday, Trump said he had partially changed his mind because he is already so far ahead in the polls among likely Republican Party primary voters, and partially because he believed the Republican National Committee (RNC) has so far treated him fairly in the race.
Trump also ruled out any possibility he would change his mind and renounce the loyalty pledge to the party.
"I have no attention of changing my mind," he insisted. "I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge."
However, Trump risked losing his chance to win the support of South Carolina voters if he refused to sign the pledge. That state’s Republican Party has made signing the loyalty pledge a condition to allow presidential candidates to put their name on the primary ballot.
Other state Republican parties, especially Virginia and North Carolina, have also been considering making the loyalty pledge an essential condition for running for the presidency in their states.
"The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whomever [the Democrats] put up," said Trump. "And for that reason, I have signed the pledge."
National Public Radio (NPR) pointed out in a report that the loyalty pledge was not legally binding, and at some future point, Trump was still free to repudiate it.
